Looking for properties in SW London but put off by SW Trains

[bluejet]

Hello

We’re looking at properties in SW London to move for secondary schools. We need reliable train service to Central London as both of us commute although we do a few days working from home. DH would definitely need punctual service as he regularly has meetings. Being tube riders all our adult life we’re frightened when looking at recent SW Rail performance. We originally consider Kingston / Surbiton but now hesitant to consider the move and leaning towards Worcester Park/Sutton in proximity with the Northern line.

Does anyone here have any tips on any other areas within half an hour train journey (if and when the trains run??)

Thanks

Raynes Park or New Malden

If you’re moving for secondary, then I presume you’re going state and want to be in a grammar school catchment with a back up of a very good comp?
Surbiton has super quick trains and is very popular with commuters but Southborough would be a very average back up. In the borough of Kingston, you’ll probably want to get yourself near Coombe Girls/Boys as a back up school so maybe commute from New Malden.
Worcester Park can be a bit of a pickle for a comp as you’re a bit outside catchment for everywhere. There are some arrangements for schools to take a few pupils but parents tend to find that there aren’t enough spaces in the schools they would like.

We live in Sutton itself and DH loves the commute. He gets a seat on his Thameslink/cycles sometimes and if he needs an alternative route, there are Victoria and London Bridge trains. It’s also a 10min mini cab from the tube (or a bus ride).

If you wanted to have a look Sutton way, your back ups could be Greenshaw or Glenthorne (a national teaching school specialising in performing arts). That’s a short bus ride to the tube but then you would end up in a nice road but wedged in between St Helier and the bottom end of the high street, which I wouldn’t love personally.

It sounds like you might have a healthy budget so you could look in one of these two Sutton spots:

1. West of Sutton station, towards Cheam Village (only 1 mile apart). You’d be in the catchment for Cheam High, you could walk to the lovely Cheam Village or to Sutton. Some very lovely residential roads that way, especially the Landseer Conservation area.

1. South Sutton. Your back up comp would be Harris Sutton (recently open, specialism in STEM and links to the Royal Marsden/Cancer Research Hub next door). Again, a very lovely, super leafy, affluent residential area (as long as you walk for 10+ mins away from the town centre). For local shops there’s Banstead Rd/Carshalton Beeches or Belmont Village (both tiny but have your butcher, bakery, florist, dry cleaner’s etc).

All a bit different if you’re eligible for faith schools but I don’t suppose you’d be moving if you were.